Christa Pike’s First Words from Hospital Revealed After She Woke Up From Botched Execution but Has Blood Clot and Memory Loss

The Tennessee death-row inmate who survived two doses of lethal drugs during a botched execution last week is now awake and can speak, reports claim. Christa Pike, 50, regained consciousness on Tuesday and said, “Where am I and who are you?” her attorney, Randy Spivey, told a press conference.

Pike does not remember anything about the failed execution, Dr. Joel Zivot, an anesthesiologist and intensive care physician advising her attorneys, told the BBC. Zivot said Pike was able to remember her name when she woke up but was confused about the date. She believed it was still September, even though the botched execution occurred on the evening of Sept. 30.

Suffering from Memory Loss

Pike has also developed a blood clot in her arm and pneumonia since the botched execution, her attorney said. She is unable to eat, her attorney said. The Daily Mail was the first to report Pike’s latest health update. Pike’s aunt, Carrie Ross, told the Daily Mail on Wednesday that the family had been informed that she was considered brain dead before she unexpectedly regained consciousness.

Ross said relatives were initially told that doctors were preparing to remove Pike from a ventilator after efforts to wake her from the coma had been unsuccessful.

Then came the unexpected news: Pike had regained consciousness and was speaking from her hospital bed. “We got word that she was brain dead and they were taking her off the ventilator,” Ross, the sister of Pike’s late mother, said.

“They were going to let her go – let her die – at 1 o’clock tomorrow. That was yesterday or a day before.”

Ross said no family member has been able to speak with Pike directly since she woke up. Instead, relatives have been getting updates through Pike’s legal team, which told them the 50-year-old “knew who she was and where she was.”

The developments have left the family struggling to process what has happened since the failed execution. “This whole week has been a blur,” Ross said.

Pike’s aunt spoke out hours before her lawyers were set to appear in court and ask the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve all evidence connected to the failed execution. The hearing is set for midday ET.

Pike was administered two doses of the supposedly lethal drug pentobarbital at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville last Wednesday.

Despite receiving both doses, she remained alive and was reportedly snoring loudly after the execution attempt. She was then taken to a hospital, where she remained unconscious and on a ventilator in critical condition.

Nothing Less Than a Miracle

Her attorneys said on Tuesday that Pike was now “conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care,” describing her recovery as happening “against all odds.” “Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery,” they said, again urging Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison.

Dr. Joel Zivot, who was retained by Pike’s legal team as a medical expert before the execution, had previously warned that surviving the lethal injection would be unlikely. “Most people who get lethal injection die from it,” he said, according to the BBC.

Even after Pike regained consciousness, Zivot warned against assuming she was out of danger. “I would not, in any way, say at this point that all the big risks are behind her,” he said.

Her attorneys, Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason, similarly warned that Pike faces a lengthy recovery. “We are incredibly grateful to the first responders and the medical team at the hospital who treated Christa like a human and have provided exceptional care to her,” they said.

“We also want to thank thousands from all over the world who sent messages offering prayers and support for Christa.”

Authorities have yet to explain exactly what went wrong during the execution attempt. Zivot has previously suggested that difficulties establishing intravenous access may have played a role. Speaking to The New York Times, he said Pike has small veins, which could have made it harder to place the IV needed to administer pentobarbital, a drug that suppresses breathing.

Pike’s attorneys said her arms turned purple during the execution attempt and that she complained of a burning sensation.

Zivot said those symptoms could indicate that some of the pentobarbital entered the tissue in her arms rather than her bloodstream, potentially because the IV lines failed.

He also raised the possibility that the pentobarbital administered to Pike had degraded. Tennessee authorities, however, have not disclosed details about where the drug came from or how it was prepared.

Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, attacked and killed their 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, at a job training facility in Knoxville in 1995.